Halloween on the Holodeck
by k4writer02
Summary: A CT story. Response to Halloween challenge. Months after Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres break up, they each take the chance to move on
1. Part 1

Title: Halloween on the Holodeck  
  
Author: Kate, k4writer02@yahoo.com  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Paramount. I do not own Star Trek, the characters, or the star ship Voyager. I am not making any profit from this story.  
  
Acknowledgments: Thank you to the CT group for supplying the challenge and to Briana for acting as a beta reader. Summary: Months after the destruction of the intimate relationship between Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres, they each take the chance to move on. Response to Halloween challenge. This is part one. Part two will be released after the costume poll closes. Thank you!  
  
"What's that about my temper?" B'Elanna Torres demanded in a low, threatening tone, placing her tray next to Harry's at the long table.  
  
Tom Paris, who was still in line for the day's meal, hastily stepped behind Tuvok, the security officer. If Harry had managed to enrage the tempestuous engineer, he wanted a phaser in between him and his half- Klingon ex-lover.  
  
Oblivious to the danger, the Delaney twins looked up from Harry Kim and Joe Carey to smile at the lieutenant. "B'Elanna, your ears must be burning." Jenny Delaney said cheerily. "We were just talking about how wonderful it would be to have a Halloween party in Engineering. The warp core provides such a nice ambient lighting, don't you think, Harry?"  
  
"I had nothing to do with that suggestion." Joe said, sweat breaking out on his forehead as he looked for an object to place between his face and the Chief.  
  
"Out. Of. The. Question." B'Elanna bit off each word so it was its own sentence. "There is delicate equipment there. It's a hazardous area. Do you understand what that means?" She took one of the calming meditation breaths that Tuvok and Chakotay had worked on with her.  
  
Meg wrinkled her nose. Jenny pouted. B'Elanna silenced their protests with a Look that clearly said 'If you don't like it, go to Sto-Vo-Kor. Engineering is mine.'  
  
"I agree with the lieutenant." Tuvok said, in his clipped precise tones. "Engineering is a sensitive area, and if the crew partakes of spirits, as seems to be a custom for nearly all Earth holidays, it would be unwise to have them in a sensitive area of the ship."  
  
Foiled by the combined might of the Chief Engineer and Security Chief, Meg and Jenny settled back petulantly.  
  
"There's no reason we couldn't do it on the holodeck." Harry suggested lightly. "We'll just write a program. So you can keep the warp core lighting effect but also have more Halloween stuff." He smiled, proud of himself.  
  
"That's right." Jenny cooed. "We don't have to have all those nasty conduits and stations everywhere."  
  
B'Elanna choked on her soup, and a vein began to pulse. "Nasty conduits?" She repeated, a tremor in her voice.  
  
Tom regarded her warily. Was it better to quarantine her and risk getting ripped apart himself or let her go for Jenny's jugular? Higher motives won out over self-preservation. "She didn't mean it, B'Elanna." He said.  
  
The lightning rod effect took place. "And you're an engineer now, Paris?"  
  
"Well you're hardly a stellar cartographer."  
  
"Will you two knock it off?" Meg Delaney asked. "For heaven's sake, just because you broke up doesn't mean you have to gnaw on each other's bones every chance you get."  
  
Tom sent her a tight smile. "So, what's this about a party?"  
  
"For Halloween." Jenny said. "It was my favorite holiday when we were living on Earth." She included her sister easily.  
  
"Costumes are the best." Meg agreed.  
  
"You didn't go in for ghost stories?" Harry teased.  
  
"Never." Jenny shivered. "At least, not without someone there to hold on to." She flirted.  
  
Harry swallowed. Meg rolled her eyes at B'Elanna, as though to say 'Men. So easy to play with.'  
  
"I admit, I have never seen the point to masquerading as someone or something else and demanding a reward." Tuvok said, back stiff.  
  
Neelix bustled over at the word candy. "It's the first break I've had in my line in an hour." He beamed. "My leola root soup must be just terrific!"  
  
No one wanted to contradict him directly, but Jenny did manage to say, "Is everyone going to replicate costumes for the party, then?"  
  
"Masks at least." Meg declared. "But we can't use the holodeck. That's the problem. They're already reserved that night."  
  
"Cargo bay 2?" Neelix asked. "What is this Halloween, anyway? Everyone seems very excited about it."  
  
"It's an Earth holiday." Tom broke his glaring match with B'Elanna to answer. "Kids dress up in costumes and walk from house to house trick-or- treating." The cook looked blank. "Asking for candy." He clarified.  
  
"Older kids make mischief though." B'Elanna said sharply.  
  
"By the light of the moon, no doubt." Neelix said, delighted. "What wonderful imaginations your people had."  
  
"Don't let them fool you, Neelix." Jenny said earnestly. "Halloween is really scary. All these animals can come at you. Ravens, werewolves and vampires. And black bats and black cats and-,"  
  
"You sound like Dr. Seuss." B'Elanna said, standing. "I've got to get going."  
  
"You barely touched your leola soup." Neelix said, looking crushed.  
  
"You've got a line." She answered simply, dropping her tray at the station and leaving the mess hall with a dark cloud floating behind her.  
  
"Don't worry about her." Tom told Neelix and Jenny. "She just hates Halloween."  
  
"Why?" Harry asked.  
  
"Mischief." Tom shrugged. "I get the sense that on Kessik IV, the teenagers directed lot of mischief at the only two Klingons in the colony."  
  
Harry, the perpetual innocent, looked bewildered. "But racism died out centuries ago."  
  
Jenny touched his shoulder. "Who taught you Ethics in the Academy?"  
  
"Discrimination has always, and will always be part of human societies in some form." Tom said bitterly. "It's like the wolf in sheep's clothing. Hides itself in all sorts of bizarre and fascinating ways."  
  
"The wolf. That's a traditional part of Halloween, right?" Joe Carey asked, uncomfortably aware of his own prejudices against Klingons.  
  
"Werewolves." Tom said. "There are some great old scary movies about that." He winked suggestively at Jenny. "Good to watch with someone else."  
  
Harry sent Tom a 'gee thanks buddy' look.  
  
"Well, who reserved the holodeck? As morale officer I could address them about the crew's need to recognize holidays from home." Neelix offered helpfully, returning from his duties as chef and server.  
  
"That information is confidential." Tuvok said dryly. "For exactly this reason. Pressure to give up reserved holodeck time could foment resentment among the crew."  
  
"Ease up Tuvok. Who wouldn't want to come to a Halloween party?" Tom said jovially.  
  
"B'Elanna." Harry ticked off crew members on his fingers. "Dalby. Chakotay?"  
  
"Why wouldn't the commander participate?" Neelix's face drooped.  
  
"He honors his ancestors. Halloween is just a little bit tacky and trashy." Harry explained.  
  
"Tacky and trashy never stopped any of us from enjoying Sandrines." Megan pointed out. "No offense, Tom."  
  
He held up his hands. "None taken."  
  
"Besides, can't you just imagine what kind of costume he would show up in?" Jenny asked.  
  
Delightedly, Jenny and Megan's eyes locked, as they shared what Voyager crew members called "a twin moment."  
  
"She would strangle us." Jenny muttered.  
  
"Would so be worth it though." Meg grinned.  
  
"For the benefit of those of us who haven't shared a brain since childhood." Harry reminded them gently.  
  
"We think we should set up B'Elanna and the Commander." Meg said boldly, meeting Tom's eyes. "Maybe if she moves on socially, it'll prove to you that you can too."  
  
Harry shifted uncomfortably, uncertain about being at ground zero when the bomb detonated.  
  
Tom didn't say a word, but Joe Carey stood nervously. "I'm not participating in any conversation about the Chief's love life or lack thereof. I like being in one piece. I don't particularly get jollies from visiting sickbay and the doctor."  
  
"Wimp." Tom called. "I participated-"  
  
"Shut up, Tom." Harry told the conn officer, as Chakotay entered the mess hall.  
  
The first officer nodded amiably at Paris, Kim, the Delaney twins and Tuvok, but selected a seat at a separate table, where he began to review a data padd. He ate distractedly. Paris frowned at the behavior change. It was like B'Elanna to focus on work during meals, but the first officer believed in giving each action its own time.  
  
"Commander." Paris called cheerfully, against his better judgment, as Jenny stared at him, slack jawed and Meg kicked him under the table.  
  
Chakotay turned. "Mr. Paris."  
  
Harry sighed. Relations between the first officer and conn officer had been strained since, weeks before, Ensign Vorik had triggered blood fever in B'Elanna. She had turned to Paris, and he had helped her. But introducing intimacy too quickly and under such intense conditions damaged their friendship, which had been growing towards more. The relationship failed spectacularly and publicly. The destruction of the first serious Starfleet/Maquis romantic relationship had placed a damper over the whole ship, with former Maquis taking B'Elanna's part and Starfleet taking Tom's side.  
  
The Delaneys had decided to cut the tension with a party, and Halloween was the perfect excuse.  
  
"We're giving a Halloween party, but the holodeck is reserved for Friday night. Is the cargo bay available?"  
  
"I'll check." Chakotay said. "Who reserved the holodeck time?"  
  
"Computer won't say." Jenny pouted. "But if you happened to find out, could you send them in our direction? The crew needs to party." She tossed her pretty head. "Plus, I'm dying to dress up in a really slutty costume. I don't make enough people drool."  
  
"Jenny!" Her sister scolded.  
  
Harry Kim choked on the soup and Tom Paris had to be physically restrained from making a remark. Tuvok stood and left with dignity, while the commander turned back to his padd.  
  
"Come on boys, I know you want details about my costume." Jenny teased.  
  
"Shut up." Megan said.  
  
"I'll give you a hint." She said, delighting in Harry's blush, as he resisted eye contact with determination. "Leopard print thong."  
  
This time, every man in the messhall choked on his meal.  
  
"It's just a real shame we can't have the party unless we find out who reserved the holodeck time." She said angelically. "I couldn't wear that costume to cargo bay 2. I'd freeze to death."  
  
"Enough. They're motivated to find a place for the party." Megan hissed.  
  
Jenny grinned. "They're motivated to do more than that."  
  
"Jenny, when was the last time--,"  
  
"Finish that question and I'll throw you out an airlock." Jenny said sweetly. "Harry, are you done? You can walk me to my next shift."  
  
Harry, who was not done, dropped his tray without qualm. "Later, Tom."  
  
"And Jenny wonders why I tell her she has no subtlety." Megan said dryly.  
  
"Jenn's a trip." Tom acknowledged. "But you know, her in a leopard print thong would do more for morale than any quantity of leola root."  
  
Megan sighed. "You really are a pig, aren't you?"  
  
"I have a reputation to maintain." Paris said. "You know I don't mean it that way. Jenny's just one of those girls who is so out there about her body. She loves displaying it.  
  
"I just wish that she realized that every time she displays her body, she displays mine too." Megan sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm really being a drag."  
  
"Hey, no." He covered her hand with his. "You're worried that guys see Jenny naked and think it's you?"  
  
Megan made an unladylike sound. "Well, we are identical twins, so obviously we're interchangeable."  
  
"No." Tom said. "No, I know you're not."  
  
Megan met his eyes. "Maybe you aren't a pig. You should worry less about that reputation." She checked her chrono. "Oh God, I've got bridge duty and I'm gonna be late. The captain'll have me for breakfast."  
  
"Coffee with a side of Megan?" Tom teased, as she fled.  
  
Chakotay turned to look at the younger man. "You really want to know who has the holodeck time?"  
  
"Yes." Tom said. "Everyone really needs to just cut loose for a night."  
  
"Think about the only person on this ship who can order the computer to keep information confidential."  
  
"The captain." Tom realized.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"How did you convince the captain to give us the holodeck again?" Megan asked, as she and Paris stood in the gridded room and began to write a program.  
  
"Let's just say that a version of B'Elanna's pool boys are going to be running around here in costumes matching Jenny's."  
  
"Leopard print thongs and the captain." Megan shuddered. "I did not need that mental picture, Tom." She hit his shoulder. "Seriously, now. How did you do it?"  
  
"I presented a logical argument."  
  
"And when that didn't work?"  
  
"I turned the ensign on her. You know no one can say no to Harry when he puts on his earnest face."  
  
Megan grinned. "Looks like Jenny might have to make good on that promise."  
  
"She could just wear sandals." Tom said. "Thong is a slang term for a piece of footwear popular with surfers from the twentieth century. Flip flops was another word, I think."  
  
Megan smiled. "I'll pass that on. Thanks."  
  
Companionably, they began to hash out decorating.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Chakotay, no." B'Elanna argued. "I don't want to go to some stupid Halloween party. I don't see the point to dressing up for one night to go hang around people I see every day who are just going to analyze every move I make to see if I'm about to beat Tom, his latest flirtation, or jump somebody else."  
  
Chakotay raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Thought you were over Tom. You said you were happy for him and Megan."  
  
"I am." B'Elanna said, sharply.  
  
"So, you don't have to worry about acting out in front of the crew."  
  
"I'm not worried." She said defensively.  
  
"Then what is wrong?"  
  
She sighed. "I hate Halloween. Growing up it was always an excuse for older kids to put on masks and pick on me or egg the house. One year they threw rocks and broke windows. By then, we knew security wouldn't come. My mother ran out on the porch with a batleh. Scared that bunch of kids half to death. So they complained to their parents, who called security, and wouldn't you know they reprimanded my mother for scaring children and refused to record her statement about the broken windows and my black eye."  
  
Chakotay frowned. "So an injustice happened when you were a child. Don't let it affect your pleasure in today."  
  
"Couldn't we just stay in? We'll have fun, I promise."  
  
Chakotay's mouth turned down. "You don't want anyone to know about us."  
  
"It's not that." She sighed. "I do, but I don't think we're ready. I mean, everyone saw me and Paris from a million klicks away, and they saw the end too. But us-they'll either think I'm getting favors or that I threatened you into a relationship."  
  
Chakotay made a face at her.  
  
"I thought making faces was below your dignity." She said, settling into his lap.  
  
"You're not over Paris." He kissed her ear. "If you were, you'd be ready to face him and his new love interest, with me."  
  
"Guilt is not fair." B'Elanna complained.  
  
"Effective though. What should we go as?"  
  
"So we're definitely going together?"  
  
"Consider it our public debut as a couple."  
  
"I don't know what I want to be. Wear." She corrected hastily, but he could see the wheels turning in her mind.  
  
~*~*~*~ 


	2. Part 2

Title: Halloween on the Holodeck, Part 2/2  
  
Author: Kate, k4writer02@yahoo.com  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Paramount. I do not own Star Trek, the characters, or the star ship Voyager. I am not making any profit from this story.  
  
Acknowledgments: Thank you to the CT group for supplying the challenge, and Briana for acting as a beta reader. I really appreciate the feedback!  
  
Summary: Months after the destruction of the intimate relationship between Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres, they each take the chance to move on. Response to Halloween challenge. This is part two. Thank you!  
  
"You don't seriously expect me to wear that, do you?" B'Elanna stared at the garment on the screen, to which Chakotay was pointing. Her tone sounded brusquely dismissive, but from the way her eyes were focused on the dress, Chakotay could tell she was already imagining the way the silk would feel as it brushed the back of her legs. "People would laugh at me. Besides, if I wear this, what the hell are you going to wear? There's no matching outfit for a man. Well, not a self-respecting one anyway."  
  
Chakotay knew better than to answer her verbally. He made a few keystrokes, and another image filled the screen of her data padd.  
  
"You would wear this?" B'Elanna asked incredulously, turning her eyes from the screen to her best friend. "No fooling? No twisted sense of humor?"  
  
"You only call my sense of humor twisted and weird when you're afraid to agree with me." Chakotay teased, fiddling with the padd.  
  
"You only make jokes when you want to mess with my head."  
  
"If I wanted to mess with your head, I would suggest Tarzan and Jane costumes, but I hear Jenny and Harry already reserved them."  
  
"Is that why I saw him drooling?"  
  
Chakotay shook his head. "I didn't need to know that about Ensign Kim."  
  
"So Tarzan and Jane are out. What else?" B'Elanna asked.  
  
"I haven't done too much research, but I have heard that Chell is going in traditional Bolain garb."  
  
"I am not going as a Klingon warrior." B'Elanna said instantly. "What you just showed me is too pretty for me, but that's not pretty enough."  
  
Wisely, he did not interfere with her self-deprecation. "I wouldn't be able to touch you all night for the spikes." He smirked at her. "I know that Paris and Megan are going as gangsters from Earth's twentieth century."  
  
"A gangster and his moll." B'Elanna agreed. "What's a moll?"  
  
"I think that it's a captain's woman, but in civilian terms."  
  
B'Elanna bit her lip. The stigma of being "the captain's woman" had lessened since the earliest days of Starfleet, but it had never entirely disappeared. In the Maquis, there had been no such stigma. They had been more aware of the immediacy of life and imminence of death. Love, when offered, was usually taken.  
  
Even Chakotay, the most honorable man she knew, had taken a lover while he battled for the Maquis. B'Elanna frowned a little as she thought of Seska. But now, they were on Voyager, and he was the first officer, and she was the chief engineer. And they were lovers. Sometimes, she still had trouble wrapping her mind around the change.  
  
In the Maquis, she had loved him from afar, jealously. She had loved Seska, her friend, but hated her too, for enjoying Chakotay's bed. She had loved the way fools do, concentrating on her own wants. Back then, they had been friends, nothing more. But somehow, friendship connected them and bonded them each to the other in a more profound way than any other relationship in her life.  
  
When they had come to Voyager, he has showed his faith in her by arguing that she should be the chief engineer. He fought for her, and she supported him in a thousand unseen ways. He could never be aware of all she had done to bolster his authority and reassure the Maquis of his unchanged loyalty to them. Similarly, she would never fully be able to recognize all the things he had done to smooth her path.  
  
Over the years, they had grown to be better friends. She understood his struggle to earn respect and cooperation from Starfleet and Maquis crewmen simultaneously, while forging them into one crew. And he understood her struggle with herself and her struggle with the strictures of Starfleet. He could gauge her longing to belong and her contempt for the fleet that represented a Federation that had never embraced her.  
  
She saw past the dignity and control to the man within. She saw through the steely resolve to the hot temper. She understood his love for his people and ancestors and need to celebrate them, but she also saw the side of him that had left his planet to search for more. She saw the unsatisfied young man who still wrestled with the guilt of abandoning his people, but she loved the man who had not lost himself to bitterness, the man who fought not for vengeance but for justice.  
  
"I think the first costume you showed me is perfect." She said, though a lump in her throat caused her voice to catch.  
  
Chakotay gave her a quizzical look. Her tone had changed from slightly querulous to passionate. "Are you sure?"  
  
"The Lone Ranger was a resistance fighter." She trailed her fingers through his hair. "He fought for justice against the men who would corrupt his land after his brother was murdered." She said sincerely. "And I love imagining the leather look on you." She added playfully.  
  
"B'Elanna, this is a Zorro costume, not the Lone Ranger." Chakotay said mildly, ignoring her leather jab.  
  
She shrugged dismissively. "They're all the same. Zorro fought injustice from the invading Spaniards, even though one captured his heart. As long as I get the dress I don't care."  
  
"So your true motives are revealed." He teased, catching her hand as it played with his hair.  
  
"I'm gonna look gorgeous in that." She gave up the self-deprecation when she remembered that Chakotay wouldn't argue with her about her looks. She pointed with her free hand, which he also captured. "And you're just going to stop hearts."  
  
"Then it's a good thing we're having the party on the holodeck. The doctor can move there immediately." Chakotay kissed her palm.  
  
She laughed. "Has your sense of humor been this messed up for long?"  
  
"You know it has." He told her lightly, dropping her hand and beginning to kiss her forearms.  
  
"So this is it? These are our costumes?" She took her arm away to focus on concluding business.  
  
"Zorro and the lovely señorita. It's perfect for us." She laughed, pulling him up from the chair. "Can't you see the eyes popping out now?"  
  
"I'd rather imagine your eyes on me." He flirted.  
  
"Whose eyes did you think I meant?" She asked sweetly, as she led him toward her bed. "I'll claw out the eyes of anyone who looks at you too long."  
  
"Oh good, we'll be locked in the brig together for two weeks, me for beating off other men and you for attacking other women."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"B'Elanna's coming." Tom repeated.  
  
Harry nodded. "That's what I just said."  
  
"B'Elanna's coming?!" Tom said again, squeaking this time.  
  
"Yes, Tom." The ensign looked at his best friend. "She contributed her share of replicator rations this morning. She doesn't want Neelix to have to cater this event. She wants real chocolate."  
  
"But Megan's coming. With me." Tom was stuck in first gear.  
  
"So?" Harry asked patiently.  
  
"So I happen to like Megan. I don't want B'Elanna to go homicidal on us."  
  
"Give her a little credit, Tom."  
  
"Harry, you don't understand. I was involved with her. I know her. I've been at ground zero when her temper goes off. I don't want to go through that again."  
  
"Tom, when we woke up together in the Caretaker's facility do you think she was a ray of sunshine who calmly smiled, accepted captivity and sat around drinking tea with the Ocampans?" Harry sarcastically reminded Tom that he also knew what their friend was capable of.  
  
"That was different. There were drugs, sedatives and restraints immediately at hand." Tom realized how ridiculous he was being and sighed. "I just can't see this ending any good way."  
  
"We'll have the doc on call." Harry said, with a touch of uncharacteristic dark humor.  
  
"So you and Jenny, huh?" Tom raised his eyebrows at the ensign.  
  
"Yeah." Harry admitted.  
  
"I think it's good." Tom said, in an unusually serious tone. "You couldn't wait for Libby forever."  
  
Harry winced, then said soberly. "The Libby who may or may not be waiting on Earth is not my Libby. He's dead to her, and she's gone for me." Harry hesitated. "I know we're all far from our families. But I'm more separated from mine than anyone else on this ship. We usually don't admit that I'm not the Harry who woke up next to B'Elanna on Kes's homeworld, not the Harry who shipped out on this Voyager. But today is the day for ghosts, isn't it?"  
  
Tom tasted bitterness. Harry usually acted with such innocent conviction that it was easy to forget how much the young man had learned. Tom had never doubted Harry's "Ensign Eager" persona.but perhaps that was a mistake. Maybe Harry's fleeter-than-fleet attitude was used to cover up something else. As an expert in maintaining facades, Tom mentally castigated himself for not recognizing the possibility that Harry's innocence and naiveté were not genuine.  
  
But the moment had passed. "Jenny's great, though." Harry said. "I admire her."  
  
"Is that the word for it these days?" Tom asked, trying for a lighter tone.  
  
Harry made a face. "So I drool every time she walks in a room. I'm allowed."  
  
"Encouraged." Tom corrected. "It's about time for you to start looking around."  
  
"I don't know, it's just that if it ends, we'll be stuck seeing each other for the next sixty years."  
  
"You'll manage." Tom told him. "B'Elanna and I have."  
  
Harry snorted. "Some kind of managing. You're scared that she's going to rip you and your new girlfriend limb from limb."  
  
"No I'm not." Tom lied.  
  
"You just said you were." Harry stared at his friend in confusion.  
  
"Well, I don't think she'll inflict permanent damage." Tom said defensively. "I just don't think she'll be happy."  
  
"What about Meg?"  
  
"She definitely won't be happy." Tom admitted.  
  
"Good luck buddy. Just remember that gangsters carried pistols."  
  
Tom laughed. "What did Tarzan carry?"  
  
Harry blushed. "I don't know how that rumor started."  
  
"So it's not true? You and Jenny aren't wearing matching men and women's- ,"  
  
"I'm going to let myself be convinced." Harry smiled.  
  
Tom let loose a wolf whistle of approval. "Harry, I'm glad to see you're finally letting me rub off on you a little."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Help me zip up the back?" B'Elanna pleaded.  
  
Chakotay was fully dressed in pants, shirt, boots and mask. He was still fiddling with the belt and sword as he turned around to look at her. He promptly dropped it. "You look better than I imagined. And trust me, my imagination is hard to top."  
  
"We'll just have to do our best after the party, won't we?" She asked, delighted by the banter that had been missing for so long. "Come on, zip me up."  
  
He obeyed, but allowed his hands to graze her spine and linger over her back for a little too long. She turned and looked at him over her shoulder. "Thanks." She kissed him lightly. "You look amazing."  
  
"I can't get this damn thing right." He mumbled.  
  
"Let me." She began to play with his belt, fastening it.  
  
He tapped her hands away. "Hey. If you keep on doing that we won't make it to the party."  
  
"That's a bad thing? If we stay in, we have more fun. I don't have to gauge out any eyeballs, you don't have to break any arms-,"  
  
He interrupted her smoothly "And we get ribbed by the entire crew when they realize that we didn't come because we were together."  
  
"We go and get ribbed by the entire crew anyway." She said.  
  
"No, we go and they cower in fear of setting off the powder keg of me, you, your ex-lover and his newest friend."  
  
"So you admit people will have more fun if we don't go."  
  
"I did not replicate this thing just for you."  
  
"Pity." She sighed. "I thought you did."  
  
"Well, mostly for you." He admitted.  
  
"Let's go." She said, as he adjusted his hat.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Mr. Paris." The Captain nodded gravely. She was stiffly starched in her Victorian governess's dress. "Ms. Delaney."  
  
"So glad you could come, Captain." Meg laughed, pushing at her ridiculous feather headband, trying to see the rest of the world. "Where's Commander Chakotay?"  
  
"I was wondering that myself." The Captain said.  
  
"You didn't come together?" Someone stomped on tactless Jenny's foot. She squealed indignantly. "Never mind. There's candy under the warp core moon, and don't forget about the haunted house!" She advertised.  
  
"Or the tunnel of love." Tom stage whispered to the room. "She's been through it twice already. Come to think of it, she suggested adding it to the program, too."  
  
Meg slapped his shoulder. "He's already had a few cups of punch." She explained to the Captain. "But the haunted house is really good!"  
  
The Captain turned away, towards the refreshments, making a mental note to avoid the punch. She passed a dazed Joe Carey, an exhausted Samantha Wildman and an adorably costumed Naomi. Naomi was plopped in front of her mother haphazardly, her halo somewhat askew. Her wings were twisted beside her, and her face was smeared with chocolate.  
  
The Captain had just popped a candy into her mouth and located a cookie when a collective gasp caused her to turn toward the door. Chakotay was there, and even her heart skipped a beat when she saw him dressed as an ancient Earth hero. But the shocking part was the woman beside him. She stood on spiked heels. A red silk dress curled around every curve, and a black lace shawl rested on her shoulders. B'Elanna stalked in beside Chakotay. Silence followed their wake, as they moved toward the center of the party: the food table.  
  
Kathryn Janeway stood her ground, gripping the cookie so tightly it began to crumble. Tom held onto Megan. For once, not even Jenny had a smart comment. Harry made eye contact with Chell, then Nicoletti and rubbed his fingers together in an ancient gesture symbolic of payment. He watched the pair with the smug self-satisfaction of a man who has won a bet.  
  
"Jenny, how do you feel about dinner tomorrow, my quarters, my treat? Anything you want." He whispered.  
  
"Make it breakfast." She teased huskily.  
  
"Let's make it dinner." He said firmly. "Look, I like you. But I don't want this going too fast. Tom and B'Elanna self-destructed because they got too physical too fast. I don't want that for us. So can we get to know each other a little first?"  
  
Jenny stared. It was the first fully coherent speech Harry had ever made to her. It was also the first time she'd been turned down after making an offer like that. "We could do that." She agreed in a squeaky voice. "How many rations did you win?"  
  
"I don't know yet." Harry murmured. "They look good, don't they?"  
  
"Why don't you go tell them so?" She gave him a push in the right direction.  
  
"And break the silence?" Harry asked loudly.  
  
B'Elanna turned and granted him a grateful look. "Trust you, Starfleet."  
  
"Only for you, Maquis." He raised a cup of punch in her direction.  
  
A ripple ran through the crowd. Most of the guests knew that the purpose of the party was to prove that the crews were integrated. Harry and B'Elanna were not participating.  
  
"You haven't told me I'm gorgeous yet." She said, not sure where the words came from. She was not the type of woman who usually fished for compliments on her appearance.  
  
"I'm scared of looking below your neck." He said. "The Commander might give me duty crawling through the Jefferies tubes eight hours a shift every shift for the next three months."  
  
"Worry more about me." She smirked. "Nice costume. What are you supposed to be anyway? A hairless ape?"  
  
Harry laughed. "Good to know spunky B'Elanna's back."  
  
"Where did I go?" She asked, pressing her back against Chakotay for a moment of support.  
  
"Bitter B'Elanna took over for a little while there." Harry told her honestly.  
  
"Did that have to be so public?"  
  
"You are gorgeous." Tom called. Maybe it was the punch, maybe it was the passage of time, maybe it was the fact that she was so obviously happy, but his fear of B'Elanna retribution had vanished.  
  
Megan swallowed, and waited to be treated like a lightning rod.  
  
"So are you." B'Elanna nodded amicably in his direction, making public peace. "Megan, that's an awesome dress-can you see out of that mask?"  
  
"No." The Delaney twin mumbled. "If I open my eyes are you going to hit me?"  
  
B'Elanna rolled her eyes. "Not tonight. Now stop cowering. This is a party about ingesting as much sugar as possible, and as far as I can tell, no one's doing that."  
  
The room began to bustle a little too loudly with forced cheer.  
  
"See? Was that so terrible?" Chakotay whispered in her ear.  
  
"We certainly fed the gossip mill."  
  
"Good. They were starting to hypothesize about Neelix's spices."  
  
"We spiced things up all right." B'Elanna tossed her hair. "Come to the haunted house with me? I promise to pretend to be scared if you promise to protect me against the stupid monsters of the night."  
  
Kathryn clenched the cookie. "Chakotay. B'Elanna." She addressed them, unconsciously using her school marm tone.  
  
Chakotay gave her a look that clearly said, 'Captain you may be, but I have also been a captain, and we are equals." B'Elanna's stance unconsciously became more defensive.  
  
Captain Janeway had cracked down on romantic relationships with a vengeance after the disaster B'Elanna and Tom created. Since shipwide morale and camaraderie had taken a noticeable nosedive after those events, Kathryn had rather actively discouraged romantic relationships among officers. Their society was essentially closed, and would be for the foreseeable future, so the last thing they could afford to do was create tension by a failed romance, especially on the senior staff. Janeway wanted to prevent sabotaging Voyager's future in the Delta Quadrant by having a senior staff that was incapable of working together, so she had drawn up the Voyager policy. Kathryn had published it one week after Tom and B'Elanna's spectacular lovers' quarrel had caused an away mission to fail. She was careful not to contradict official Starfleet policy directly, and she promised that she would not institute discriminatory practices against those who did enter romantic relationships, but she would not sanction them either.  
  
"You look lovely." She choked on the word-or the lump of candy that had become lodged in her throat the moment they walked in the door. "You do realize that there are operating protocols about romantic relationships among colleagues?"  
  
"Kathryn, I think this conversation can wait for a briefing room." Only Chakotay could be so bold. "Your costume is very attractive as well."  
  
"Thank you. Perhaps it can wait." Janeway inclined her head an inch or so, relenting for him as she would for few others. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to check on the status of the ship."  
  
"If there's a problem, Tuvok will contact you." Chakotay said. "Stay. Have some fun."  
  
She gave him a tight smile. "Thank you for your good wishes, Commander." She emphasized his rank.  
  
Chakotay felt an unexpected pang. Had his love for B'Elanna cost him the Captain's friendship? His lover pressed against him, and he tried to reassure her with a glance.  
  
"I simply have a headache. It's not worth going to sickbay over it, the doctor would only make it far worse before he relented and gave me an analgesic. I was only making an appearance for the sake of morale. I expect to see you at the meeting tomorrow morning. 0800." Even in a Victorian costume, Kathryn exited with military precision.  
  
B'Elanna sighed. "Well I feel suitably chastised." She drawled sarcastically.  
  
"She didn't try to forbid us from seeing each other." Chakotay offered.  
  
"Try being the operative word." B'Elanna huffed. "You probably have the code of conduct regulations on this memorized. You're ready to cite chapter and verse at her."  
  
"Maybe." Chakotay admitted. "If it becomes necessary."  
  
"So well-prepared. Did you know that's one of the reasons I love you?"  
  
"Is it?" He teased. "What are the others?"  
  
"Hey, move it to the Tunnel of Love." A former Maquis hooted. "Let the rest of us at the real food."  
  
B'Elanna led Chakotay away from the center table. Maybe Halloween wasn't the worst holiday after all.  
  
If you're interested in a sequel, check out "On the Day of All Saints" by Brenda Shaffer-Shiring.  
  
The link is:   
  
  
  
There has been some difficulty getting the link to display, which I am working to fix. Thanks for being patient! I appreciate it. 


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